Newly minted UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (16-2-1 MMA, 4-1-1 UFC) is proud of his performance against Joseph Benavidez (16-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC 152 but believes he could have done more in the striking department.

He said the plan was to get inside the “bubble” of Benavidez’s offense and get out before paying the price.

He also wanted to be in another place when Benavidez wanted to do likewise.

A few times, Benavidez did, and Johnson was dropped in the fourth round of their title fight and threatened with a guillotine choke at the Sept. 22 fight. Johnson kept his composure – he’d been put in the choke all during training camp – and eventually got back to his feet, where he resumed playing matador to his more aggressive opponent.

Johnson used footwork and angles to evade and return fire, though he wasn’t able to hurt Benavidez.

“The gameplan was to use my speed, which is one of my greatest assets,” Johnson said. “Joseph, he throws big bombs, and when you throw big bombs, you have to swing your arms wild, and that’s where you get that power. When people do that, they leave themselves open for a lot of big shots.

“That’s one of the things that I didn’t get to execute on: staying in the pocket. I made Joseph miss, but I wasn’t able to make him pay for missing as much as I wanted to.”

The interplay was fast and furious, but it didn’t do much for the crowd at UFC 152. By the end of the fight, which aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook, boos echoed throughout Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

Johnson, however, said fighting top-level fighters is a game in which every little thing counts and every mistake is a possible disaster.

“When I fought Ian McCall, and when I fought Joseph Benavidez, you look at those guys’ records, and these guys have only lost twice in their entire lives,” Johnson said. “And they’re not even finishes. When you look at the guy, you think he’s got heart, determination, and he’s mentally focused. In order for this guy to get knocked out or finished, he’s got to make a stupid mistake.

“When you’ve got the best guys in the world going after it, there’s no room for error, and we’re not going to go out there and make an error because we’re not stupid. So that’s basically what you see.”

In the end, one judge saw it 48-47 for Benavidez, who looked far worse for the wear in the center of the octagon as scores were read. The remaining two judges saw it for Johnson by scores of 48-47 and 49-46.

Afterward, Johnson tried to console Benavidez, whom he’d grown to like as the two attended several PR events in support of UFC 152.

“I was saying, ‘Good fight, man. Don’t worry, you’ll be back,'” he said. “I was like, ‘Next time we hang out, we should get some mochi.’ He said, ‘I don’t know if I can do it.’ I was like, ‘Joseph, don’t you go sour on me now, dammit!'”

UFC President Dana White, however, was in a foul mood when it came to feedback on the fight from Twitter and the live audience. He told critics and boobirds to never again buy a UFC PPV if they didn’t like what they saw.

Naturally, Johnson isn’t nearly as worked up. He’s the first man to hold the UFC flyweight title. A year ago, he was still logging hours as a forklift driver in the Pacific Northwest.

Johnson said he’s likely to meet the winner of an upcoming bout between “The Ultimate Fighter 14″ veteran John Dodson and top-ranked UFC newcomer Jussier Formiga, which takes place at UFC on FX 5 in a few weeks.

“We know Dodson is a southpaw,” Johnson said. “Formiga is a ground guy. My takedown defense is getting better. It’s just a combination of me and (trainer) Matt (Hume) working together and executing the game plan to a T.”